Henry Flagler opened the Hotel Alcazar on December 25, 1888 while under construction in order to accommodate an overflow of guest from the Hotel Ponce de Leon. The Hotel Alcazar was completed and reopened in 1889. The costs to build the hotel were in excess of one million dollars. The walls are made out of coquina and this was one of the first buildings made out of poured concrete in the United States. Designed by John Carrere and Thomas Hastings, who were trained in the school of Beaux Art the Hotel Alcazar style is called Spanish Renaissance. The hotel had three hundred guest rooms, lounge areas, a casino, massage room, Turkish and Russian baths in the south section of the building. The Hotel Alcazar closed during the Great Depression in 1932 and remained closed until Otto Lighter purchased it in 1947. The Hotel Alcazar then became the Lightner Museum. Otto Lightner used the space to house his private collection of antiques. Henry Flagler also built the Hotel Ponce de Leon in 1888 and purchased the Hotel Cordova from William Smith in 1888, renaming it the Casa Monica Hotel.
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